[ad_1]
Myanmar security forces opened fire on protesters today, killing at least 18 people, according to a group of civil rights activists.
Witnesses said that the security forces fired live ammunition without a clear warning in some towns and cities. “It is horrible, words cannot describe our circumstances and our feelings,” said activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi. Reuters through a messaging application. A spokesman for the military government did not respond to a request for comment.
Ko Bo Kyi, secretary of the Association for the Support of Political Prisoners, tweeted on March 3 that “the army killed at least 18 people.”
Protesters were lying on the ground when police opened fire on March 3. Picture: Reuters.
The local newspaper Monywa Gazette reported that six people died in the town of Monywa, in the central part of the country. “At least 30 people were injured, some are still unconscious,” said the newspaper’s editor Ko Thit Sar.
In Yangon, witnesses said at least eight people were killed, one was killed in the morning and seven were killed when security forces used automatic weapons early in the evening. “I heard a lot of gunshots. I lay down on the ground, they shot many times and I saw two people killed at the scene,” said 23-year-old protester Kaung Pyae Sone Tun.
Others died in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, the mining town of Hpakant in the north and the city of Myingyan in the center. One of the people who died in Mandalay was a 19-year-old girl wearing a T-shirt with the words “everything will be fine.”
At least 40 people have died since the February 1 coup, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the military regime. On February 28, security forces fired live bullets at protesters in many cities, killing 18 people and wounding 30 people.
State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, has been detained since the coup. He appeared in court via video call this week and appeared to be in good health.
The latest violent protests come after the Foreign Minister of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Myanmar’s military representative Wunna Maung Lwin, discussed the crisis in an online meeting. After the meeting, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi expressed disappointment at the lack of cooperation from the Myanmar military. Singapore, Myanmar’s largest investor, condemns the government’s lethal use of force.
Phuong vu (Follow, continue Reuters)
